​ Matt "Machine" Bienia captured his third amateur MMA lightweight title belt at ‘Cage Titans XL’ at the Plymouth Memorial Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts on August 18th. Matt took a unanimous decision, winning all five rounds, against champion Chris “the Bearded Dragon” O’Brien in a grinding war. True to form, the Machine was relentless and dominated the striking, cage, and grappling modes of the fight. On the ground, Matt put on a grappling clinic with positioning and numerous submission attempts that took their toll on O’Brien. The former champ showed amazing sportsmanship afterwards towards team ZenQuest in spite of some intense and, at times, hilarious pre-fight trash talk. After two years away from the cage, Neil “Beast Mode” Von Flatern made his long-awaited return to face undefeated Welterweight champion, Trevor “Scarecrow” Gudde. At 6’7” Trevor is a lanky 170 pound striker who, like Neil, has a purple belt in Jiu-jitsu. Beast Mode shocked onlookers by landing some intense strikes against the champ in the early part of round one. About half way through the round, Travis bailed on his usual strategy of using his reach in kickboxing and changed to a grappling game instead. Neil was caught off guard for a moment and wound up caught in a rear-choke at about 2:20 in. Although it was a loss for Beast, he walked away with his head held high due to a personal win with a big improvement in his striking against a very tough opponent. Almost fifty members and fans traveled from western Massachusetts to cheer on Team “Z” The fighters and coaches were also impressed with the organization and quality of the Cage Titans event.Congratulations to Matt and Neil on their success! As always, thanks to our fans and sponsors for their continued support.